wedding streaming

Wedding celebrations are becoming social! You’ve seen the groom who pauses to update his Facebook status, or Tweet that he is officially married. Friends are taking photos at the wedding and uploading them to Facebook the next morning! Before you even get your professional wedding photos, you can watch as your guests start to populate your Facebook page with tons of wedding photos!

Friends or family who didn’t attend are able to comment on the photos, and share in your special day as well! Make that wedding sharing real-time by live wedding streaming your wedding. There are 3 HUGE reasons why you should live stream your wedding.

1) Save on Your Wedding Budget - Less live guests means saving on your wedding costs. Think about all those guests that you need to invite, but you don’t necessarily need them to attend. Send a wedding invite that allows them to take part in your wedding over the internet.

2) Experience the Wedding All over Again – Wake up the next morning and watch your wedding ceremony as if you were a guest. The wedding will be such a blur that you will want to capture the moment for you to remember! With live wedding streaming, you can watch your live wedding video of your ceremony and experience it all over again!

3) Share Your Wedding With All Your Friends and Family – You can’t invite all your Facebook friends to the wedding, but you CAN share the wedding with all of them real-time. Or, if you want to make the wedding private only to a select few, Marry Me Live sets up a password protected page that allows your “special” friends to leave comments on your “guest book”.

There are so many different modes of transportation any bride can take to get to her wedding.  Typically I tend to think of limousines or antique cars when I pictures brides pulling up to their wedding sites.  This weekend, as I drove through Golden Gate Park, I saw the coolest Cinderella type carriage with a gorgeous bride-to-be sitting inside just waiting to pull up to the Tulip Garden.  After a little online searching I found the Fancy Ferriage site which has a variety of carriage options for brides or other special events.

Cinderella Coach - image from Fancy Ferriage

Everyone has their own style.  How did you arrive at your wedding?  We’d love to see pictures or get other recommendations!

Last week my friend asked me to go look at a couple of wedding dresses with her.  She said she found a great place in North Beach that has designer wedding gowns at a great discount.  Of course I said I would love to see the dresses, and I could not wait to see the shop as well!

Glamour Closet (Photo from the website)

Glamour Closet is a very cute little shop on Columbus Avenue.  They have rows of samples (typically sizes 8-10) from well known designers (my friend tried on a stunning Vera Wang that was under $2000, where else can you find that??).   Every month they get a new shipment of designer dresses for you to browse through and try on, and everything appears to be in pretty good shape.  The workers are very friendly and really know their dresses.  Once you settle on a fit/fabric/style they can easily find some dresses to fit your budget and look.

Glamour Closet (Photo from the website)

They do not take appointments so if you go on a weekend I recommend going in early to beat the crowds.  When we got there on a Friday night after work there were only two other brides in the shop, which left us plenty of room to scour the racks.  The fitting area has three dressing rooms, which was not a problem when we were there but could be an issue on Saturdays, and one large mirror from which you can see all angles of the dresses you try on.

Another thing I love about the Glamour Closet is its dedication to the prevention of Parkinson’s Disease.  Parkinson’s has touched my family, so when I heard that a portion of their yearly profits are donated to foundations dedicated to researching a cure for Parkinson’s I was blown away!   By purchasing a dress from Glamour Closet I feel like you would no only be getting the dress of your dreams, but you would also be giving to charity.

Glamour Closet Logo From the Website

Visiting Glamour Closet was a low stress and very fun experience, so I highly recommend you check it out!

Glamour Closet

http://glamourcloset.com

114 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133

(415) 391-1515

At about 10pm every night I have a sweet tooth. I rummage through my pantry and freezer looking for the perfect sweet bite. Last night, searching the blog-o-sphere I found exactly what I was looking for, only sadly it was not in my freezer or pantry…it was online…teasing me with it gorgeousness and looking simply scrumptious. The s’more. I found them over on Elizabeth Anne Designs. They were shot by Lisa Marie of the lovely Sweet Tea Photography and featured in this sassy New Years Eve Wedding inspired photo shoot. The edible gold sprinkles blew my mind – imagine the possibilities! Cupcakes and cake pops and cookies can now all be a little more glam! I am loving gold right now and all of it’s elegance and decadence it can add to wedding decor. These s’mores rocked my world, and how perfect is the gold frame they are placed upon!? Who needs a plate!

Sweet Tea Photography by Lisa Marie

I have this nifty little tree in my backyard called a pomegranate tree. It grows these amazing deep red fruits that are so darn yummy and gorgeous. I am loving how I keep seeing them pop up in holiday decor for more winter wedding idea fun! Loving the rich reds, sweet pinks and lovely golds of the photo shoot below. Also, candles with a mixture of elements such as pine cones and pomegranates are another great way to dress up a table with soft lighting, and a warm glow that is simple and pretty. Even escort cards are a treat for guests, creating an amazing display, with not a lot of work. What other ways have you found to incorporate fruits or something unexpected into your decor?

Mimmo + Naz Photography; Cynthia Martyn Events

Mimmo + Naz Photography; Cynthia Martyn Events

Danielle's Rockaway Florist.com

Photo found on Weddingbee

Martha Stewart Weddings

By Erin Frank

December is a holiday-filled month. A classic winter wedding taking place in December can easily turn into a tightrope walk for many brides: How do you embrace the season and your favorite holiday without looking like your wedding is one big Christmas celebration? Cancel Santa’s invitation — we’ve got a few tips on how to pull it off, plus just a few pictures from a couple who got it right! Adding just a touch of Christmas to your big day will put your guests in a festive holiday mood without guests wondering when the gift exchange starts.

Tips for Making Spirits Bright on Your Wedding Day:

• Don’t shy away from Christmas’ iconic red and green. It’s all about how you use them! Choose one as your primary and use the other as an accent only. An even division of the colors can quickly border on Christmas overkill. Our bride put the emphasis on red, and chose a deep, subdued tone, rather than Santa’s jolly bright red.
• Use the greenery of the season. Sprays of pine needles, pine cones, holly, mistletoe and branches can accent red hypericum berries, amaryllis blossoms, white roses and more in your floral arrangements.
• Keep your bridesmaids warm. Faux-fur wraps make great gifts for bridesmaids and result in elegant photos. Consider chocolate brown wraps for your bridesmaids and a snowy white one for yourself.
• Serve up some seasonal flavor! Our bride and groom plated up prime rib with a sprig of rosemary. Favors were individually-packaged squares of peppermint bark—dark and white chocolate with crushed peppermint.
• Save any holiday music for the dinner hour. Dinner is the appropriate time for a few of your favorite holiday tunes if you’re eager to include them. Keep the tempo slow and find the orchestral versions when possible. Think a violin rendition of Silent Night rather than the lyrics to Jingle Bells.
• The dazzle is in the details. Think of little ways to charm or amuse your guests with a nod to the holiday. Aim for something more subtle than a giant Christmas tree. Our couple set a tiny bell at each place setting that people could ring  to get the couple to kiss, creating the tinkling of silver bells instead of the clang of silverware against glasses.

Congrats to newlyweds Brian and Jen Kasbek, and thanks for letting us have a look at a lovely understated wedding that celebrates the Christmas season!

With all the cold and rain that makes up winter in the Bay Area, I have to admit I do wish we had a little bit of the white stuff every now and then to make things more entertaining. Imagine peeking out your window one morning to find your lawn blanketed in a sea of white – how super cool?! And what about winter weddings? The cost is pretty nifty – you save quite a bit with off-season weddings. And there is something magical about wedding photos while snow flakes fall, sleigh rides for guests, mistletoe hanging about, hot chocolate with home made marshmallows….the list goes on and on!

Well, I found a lovely little blog called Frosty Winter Weddings complete with sweet animated snowfall that inspired me to truly fall in love with the idea of a winter wedding. I grabbed some photos from on of my fav posts showing an adorable couple that braved the snow for their nuptials that was found over on Martha Stewart Weddings. Take a look for some gorgeous winter wedding inspiration and make sure to head over to Frosty Winter Weddings to read all about the amazing details like the – especially the guest favors!

Photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

Photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

By Erin Frank

You’ve finally found “the One,” and as soon as you’re engaged you have to set out in search of your next true love—that one store you want to register at. Of course, you can register at two, or even three stores, but guests can get overwhelmed if you try anything beyond that. But what if that perfect silverware is at one store, the dishes at another, the sheets at a third, the appliances at a fourth…and so on? And why do you have to limit yourself, when any other kind of shopping means the whole world is your oyster?

A new service called RegistryStop couldn’t agree more. RegistryStop.com is a registry service that allows you to base your registry on the products—not the stores—you want. RegistryStop’s CEO, Craig Kerstiens, just got married just a few weeks ago (congrats, Craig!). During the process of registering, Craig was frustrated with his limited choices. We’ve all been here: Craig and his fiance, wanted Riedel wine glasses. They were carried at all three of the stores they registered at, but they had to choose just one to list the glasses at in order to avoid receiving multiple sets. Craig wanted his guests to have the ability to buy the glasses at the cheapest price, regardless of the store. Very considerate in these lean times! Unfortunately that just wasn’t possible.

Enter RegistryStop. Craig’s changed from a guy frustrated with an overly complicated wedding process to part of a team that makes registering better. Their mobile app lets you scan products from any store to your online registry, and you can add additional products via the web as well. Plus, RegistryStop helps your guests find the best prices, which means less cost for them and more gifts for you!

Are you having a holiday wedding? Looking for centerpiece arrangements that are affordable, yet work with the holiday feel and look beautiful? Look no further… Check out this modern day Christmas tree that can be used as a centerpiece for your tables that will also be the talk of your family and circle of friends for years to come!

By Erin Frank

Alterations are tricky. I’ve heard horror stories of brides whose dresses were ruined by sloppy, irreversible alterations, the results of which are generally revealed only right before the wedding (i.e. when it’s too late to do anything other than wear it unhappily or drop a ton of cash on a new dress at the last minute). I’ve also heard from brides who were hustled out of the bridal salon by a harried seamstress without a final fitting, only to find their last-minute fixes were never made and the bridal shop closed.

Tips for “Smooth Alterations”:

Shop early for the following and bring them to each fitting: Shoes, veil, jewelry (especially a necklace, as this might affect the neckline of the finished dress), and any slimming or enhancing undergarments you plan to wear.

Ensure deadlines are appropriate. Deadlines and multiple fittings are key to getting a dress altered well and on time. Take your dress in for alterations no later than 6 or 8 weeks before the wedding to allow enough time to get the job done.

Don’t diet yourself out of your dress size. You’re doing yourself and your seamstress a disservice by creating a last minute crisis situation when that dress is falling off of your newly bony frame.

Ask the right questions. There are no “dumb” questions when it comes to your wedding day. Make sure you understand exactly what work will be done when, when your final fitting is, when you can pick up your dress, and whether or not the alterations shop will press your dress for you before pick-up. Always try the dress on one last time to confirm that final changes or repairs were indeed made as you requested.

For my October wedding last year, I took my dress to SF’s Novella Bridal (www.novellabridal.com). I loved the results. I had ordered a dress with a tight fit that accommodated my disproportionately large lower half, which meant there was a lot to take in on the top. Knowing this, I wanted to go somewhere with great word of mouth that was friendly to dresses bought from other bridal salons (I had recently moved to SF and bought my dress before leaving New York). I enjoyed their professionalism, the timing, and the amazing finished dress.

Where do you think is the best place for bridal alterations in the Bay Area? Have you had a wedding dress mishap thanks to a careless seamstress? Share your experiences in the comments below!